Precision IrrigationBy Steven Calhoun

Irrigated cropland

• Water is the most limiting resource for most producers in many regions.

• The law of minimum – Limiting factor

Irrigated acreage

• In 2008 US farmers and ranchers irrigated 54.9 million acres of farmland.

Irrigation types

• Surface • Drip/micro • Pivot

Flood/Furrow

• Uses gravity to transport water

• management practices to consider include precision land leveling

• Auto steer rows/channels

• Hard to control

Flood/Furrow

• Water lost to runoff/evaporation

• Soil erosion

• Conventional tillage

Surface Irrigation

Drip/Micro

• High efficiency

• Well suited to automation

• Less labor intensive

• Precise application

Drip/Micro

• Problems

• Water quality is very important

• Limited from deep tillage

• Initial cost

Drip/mirco

Drip/Micro

Pivot

• Even application over field

• More efficient application

• Less runoff/evaporation

Pivot

• Maintenance

• Tracks

• Move for field operations

Variable Rate Irrigation

• provides precision control of all sprinklers on a pivot

• individually pulsing sprinklers

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=es_yv-NevTo&feature=player_embedded

Variable Rate Software

• Rate management– Soil type– Dual crops

• Arial photo/Soil map

• Soil samples

• GPS recordings

Variable Rate Irrigation

• Central controller

• Node

• Valve

• Easy to apply

Variable Rate Irrigation

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXhB6A-p3R8&feature=player_embedded

Questions?